Kendra Shank - voice, guitar, kalimba / Frank Kimbrough - piano / Dean Johnson - bass / Tony Moreno - drums, percussion
A SPIRIT FREE CD -- added guests: Billy Drewes - tenor & soprano sax, bass clarinet, percussion / Ben Monder - guitar / Gary Versace - accordion
WISH CD -- Kendra Shank - voice / Frank Kimbrough - piano / Jeff Johnson - bass / Victor Lewis - drums / Hans Teuber - saxes & flute / Joe Locke - vibraphone
Influences
Not a complete list by any means, but off the top of my head...
Jay Clayton, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, Abbey Lincoln, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Nancy King, Sheila Jordan, Rhiannon, Bob Dorough, Edith Piaf, Barbara (French singer/songwriter), Joao Gilberto, Thelonious Monk, Joe Pass, Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Red Mitchell, Doc Watson, Norma Winstone.
Hailed by critics as "an adventurous and innovative artist" (Variety) and "one of the top jazz singers around today" (L.A. Jazz Scene), Kendra Shank combines jazz originals, standards, folk/pop tunes, French songs, and open improvisation in a genre-bending style that inspired Gary Giddins to call her "one of New York's most original performers" (Jazz Times).
Building on studies with jazz vocalist Jay Clayton, Shank forged successful careers in Seattle, WA and Paris, France (1988 - 1996) before settling in her current New York City home in 1997. In 1991 she was vocalist/guitarist/percussionist in the Bob Dorough Quartet and in 1992 made her New York debut at the Village Vanguard in a showcase performance hosted by jazz legend Shirley Horn.
Shank's critically-acclaimed debut album, "Afterglow" (Mapleshade, 1994), was co-produced by Horn and features pianist Larry Willis and saxophonist Gary Bartz. Her following two releases on the Jazz Focus label, "Wish" (1998) and "Reflections" (2000), put her in the Down Beat International Critics Poll list of "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" and in the "Top Ten" lists of Jazziz, The Boston Globe, and Newsday. Grammy-winning journalist Bob Blumenthal wrote: "This vocalist makes lyrics believable, invents like an instrumentalist, and has an ear second to none for little-known and unknown tunes."
In 2007, Challenge Records released Shank's newest album, "A Spirit Free: Abbey Lincoln Songbook," which received raves in NY Times, Down Beat (4 stars), Jazz Times, Entertainment Weekly, Jazziz, and more. Featuring Shank's ensemble of 8 years with Frank Kimbrough, Dean Johnson and Tony Moreno, the music focuses on improvisational group interplay and a polyphonic approach, as they reinvent the songs of this important composer.
Shank headlines at clubs and festivals internationally, and has been featured on National Public Radio's "Piano Jazz with Marian McPartland" and "JazzSet." She has been a vocal guest with Jay Clayton, Bud Shank, Norman Hedman, and Peter Leitch, and was guest guitarist on Abbey Lincoln's CD "Over The Years" (Verve, 2000). For music samples and more information, visit http://www.kendrashank.com .
All the best, Chris McGowan, author of the book "The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa Nova and the Popular Music of Brazil" (Temple University Press, 2009)
Hello! Thank you for adding me! Come by anytime! Wishing you much success in the future! Have a beautiful day! ^_^ All My Best To You Carmelita de la Guardia
Hello Kendra, thank you for the add. It's nice to hear from you after all those years. I hope we can meet again sometime, and share some musical moments.
you are a great woman who will always be successful and also you are a very beautiful and also a very refined woman who will always have success in your own life
Every time that we listen & write music... play an instrument... sing & dance... act in a play... or work in some audio/image/video engineering process... something is healing inside...
When we share it with friends... something is healing all over...
cada vez que escuchamos o escribimos musica... tocamos un instrumento... cantamos y bailamos... o trabajamos en procesos de ingenieria de audio/imagen/video.... algo se sana por dentro...
Cuando lo compartimos con amigos... algo se sana en todas partes...
El Amor puede conducir... de manera simple... todo...
Ciao Kendra, Thank you for the add and the friendship. you are very good, I like your music a lot, and the splendid voice. talk to you soon, and all of my best wishes to always listen to your good music. all the best.. from italy neal
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